Venezuela's fixed-line teledensity remains relatively high for the
region, though steady growth in the number of lines in recent years came
to an end in 2015, when the number of lines in service fell 3.5%
year-on-year.

In the local telephony market, five companies compete with the
state-owned incumbent CANTV (News - Alert): Three of these are primarily cable TV
companies providing services over their cable TV networks, while two are
primarily mobile operators.

With a continuing economic crisis and high inflation, as well as lower
prices for the country's key export commodity, oil, the general outlook
for 2017 is not promising. A new government elected in December 2015
plans to amend the Telecommunications Act, while there are indications
that it may also privatize CANTV, the main telecom player nationalised
in 2007.

Mobile penetration in Venezuela is below the average for South America,
while growth in the sector has been set back by the ongoing economic
recession. The number of mobile subscribers fell 4.7% in 2015, in line
with the fall in fixed-line and internet subscriptions as customers
scale back their spending on services. Nevertheless, the volume of data
traffic has been increasing steadily, spurred by the popularity of
social networks, the prevalence of smartphones and the use of mobile
networks for data in preference to fixed-line internet services. Mobile
data traffic increased 76% in the fourth quarter of 2015, year-on-year.

Three major players operate in the mobile market: Movilnet, Movistar
Venezuela and Dgitel, a locally owned private company. In terms of
revenue, the mobile sector accounted for almost 60% of overall telecom
sector revenue in 2015, compared to 7% for internet services and 14% for
subscription TV services.

Venezuela's fixed broadband penetration is lower than the regional
average, while data rates are also relatively low. CANTV has a monopoly
on the provision of DSL services, while there a few cable TV companies
offer cable broadband access. The government has launched a National
Fibre-Optic Backbone project to provide broadband access nationally.

Pay TV is the fastest growing telecom sector in Venezuela after mobile
broadband, and accounts for 14% of all telecom revenue in the country.
The market leaders are DirecTV (now owned by AT&T (News - Alert)), Inter, SuperCable,
NetUno, Movistar, and CANTV.

This report provides an overview of Venezuela's telecom infrastructure,
market and regulatory environment, together with profiles of the major
fixed-line operators. The report also reviews the broadband and pay TV
markets, accompanied by relevant statistics, analyses, and broadband
scenario forecasts to 2021. In addition the report covers the mobile
market, assessing the performance and strategies of the network
operators and proving subscriber forecasts to 2021.

Key Developments:

- Election of new government prompts consideration of CANTV
privatisation;

- CANTV completes installation of 5,700kms of new fibre cabling;

- Falling GDP and lower revenue from oil exports continue to place a
strain on consumer spend for telecom services;